February 18— “We heard of Trump threatening to remove the masses forcefully,” reported comrade Hamza in Gaza. “The response from the masses is universal defiance. They are already going back. Many have no homes, but they would never leave Gaza.”
Trump made this threat while standing next to the Israeli butcher Netanyahu on February 4. “The US will take over the Gaza Strip. We’ll own it.” This was an outrageous call for the mass deportation of Palestinians—for ethnic cleansing. Meanwhile, Zionist occupation forces have taken advantage of the Gaza “ceasefire” to forcibly displace over 90% of the residents of the huge Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank.
Netanyahu knows, even if Trump doesn’t, that the rulers of Jordan and Egypt cannot agree to resettling over two million forcibly displaced Palestinians. Mass sentiment in both countries – including the Egyptian army– is strongly pro-Palestine. King Abdullah and President el-Sisi don’t want to go the way of Syria’s al-Assad.
In Gaza, comrade Hamza continued, “People went to sleep every night thinking they might not be alive the following day. But that inspired them to continue helping each other. In many places, many people, neighbors, were involved in food production. People found new ways of growing crops and immediately distributing them to the masses as needed.”
As the imperialist genocide brought unbearable misery, the masses also became hardened and more defiant. The idea of communism as the only solution became a reality to many.
Comrade Hamza regularly reads Red Flag on his phone and shares it with friends. They meet together and are moved by reports from the Israeli comrades.
They saw the relentless bombing of the masses in the refugee camps and on the roads when they were forced to evacuate from North Gaza.
“We were now talking openly about building our party,” said comrade Hamza. “One eight-year-old boy who had lost his parents adopted me. He understood that we were fighting to end this system. He would organize children to meet with me, anywhere from eight to thirty people. The masses are very open to communism.”
Children led the First Intifada (uprising) in 1987-1993. Some 90% of boys and 80% of girls were involved, mostly throwing stones at Zionist soldiers. Many were arrested and some were held without charges for up to a year. To this day, hundreds of Palestinian children suffer intolerable conditions in Israeli prisons.
“The first phase of the ceasefire has expanded our activities,” said comrade Hamza. “Several of us are now able to translate Red Flag to distribute it electronically. We have found a printing press and hope to print Red Flag right here in Gaza.
“Our future is uncertain, but what is certain is the spread of communist work. I see the masses rising for communism. I see young children becoming future red soldiers fighting the most sadistic, genocidal forces. No matter if we are in Gaza or forcefully evacuated to Egypt or Jordan, communism will spread like wildfire.”
Read our new pamphlet:
Genocide in Palestine Demands Communist Revolution: here